Burmese Activists Fear Assassination

Democracy activists who have fled Burma to avoid arrest are now hiding from assassination teams sent by the military junta to pursue them in Thailand.

Burmese pro-democracy activists who have fled across the Thai border fear death at the hands of assassins sent to track them down.

Speaking in Mae Sot, a town on the Thai side of the border where unexplained deaths are common, a leader of the recent protests said he feared that Burmese government agents could pursue him.

"It's not safe because I am illegal," he said. "The Thai police can arrest me and send me back. And we are very close to the Burma border. A team can come and assassinate me. There are many spies here."

The smuggling of women, children, gems and drugs are big business in Mae Sot. The town is a key destination for those fleeing the Burmese military regime.

But the activist, Hlaing Moe Than, 38, who was a regional leader for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy in the Mandalay area, insisted yesterday that he would not move further from his homeland before he had spoken of his experiences.

Hlaing Moe co-ordinated protests with the Buddhist monks' leaders in the days before they joined the anti-government demonstrations in their thousands last month.

He was a student leader in the 1988 democracy movement that was brutally put down by the junta. He spent eight years in prison, first in the notorious Insein jail then at Myingyen, which he calls "the worst torture camp for political prisoners".

For months on end his legs were shackled with an iron bar so he could not walk. Hlaing Moe's closest comrades in the democracy movement are a roll call of leading activists recently arrested. The family of one friend was recently informed that "the nervous system in his eyes" was "broken". Apparently he has been blinded during interrogation.

Junta-speak: the nervous system in his eyes is broken. Many others have reportedly been questioned to death. Meanwhile, the United Nations is busily celebrating potatoes. Perhaps potatoes are a miracle cure for broken eye nervous systems and the UN can bring in a case or two of tubers to save Burmese eyesight.

• 

  By Elisa, Friday, 19 October , 2007 @ 1:32 am

  Those under oppressive regimes should be extremely careful when using online networking sites, because as
  Michael Dahan warns this information can be used against dissindents and activists.

  Though, unfortunately Myanmar has effectivly shut down communication with the outside world. And from what information we do get (interviews above) perhaps, online profiling is the least of our worries.

Other Links to this Post

1. Spanish Pundit » Blog Archive » Widespread hunger looms in Burma - El hambre puede extenderse por Birmania — Saturday, 20 October , 2007 @ 11:37 am